A resident at a tax office in Ho Chi Minh City. The city has announced it would implement a series of efforts this year to speed up administrative procedures at state agencies.

State agencies in Ho Chi Minh City have announced a slew of new deadlines and reduced documentation to emphasize their intent to significantly expedite administrative procedures this year.

Nguyen Tan Ben, the department director, said they will halve the time taken to recognize construction works’ ownership and land use rights as well as house ownership for organizations to 15 days.

It will grant building and construction consultancy licenses to foreign contractors after 10 days instead of 30, Ben said.

He said the department will need 25 days, five days less than the current norm, to grant certificates to engineers, architects and building supervisors of a particular project, and will shorten the time taken to assess contractor selection by 15 days to 20 days.

Ben said the number of documents required to apply for construction licenses has been trimmed to three – the application letter, land use title certificate and design drawings.

He has ordered department officials to finish all procedures within the legally stipulated time and set specific time limits where the laws have not done so.

“Officials irresponsible and indifferent about quickly resolving residents’ requests will be strictly punished,” said the department director.

The city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) has also put administrative reform as one of its main focus areas for 2009.

The department office manager Bui Thi Bich Tuyen said it will regularly check and adjust its procedures according to demands and try to minimize the time, cost and number of documents.

Since the end of 2008, the department has cut the time taken to issue land-use certificates, land-lease agreements, and documentation on transfer of land-use rights from one year to 40 days, she said.

Organizations now have to wait for just one day instead of five to register for transaction guarantees, Tuyen added.

She said processes to issue licenses for managing hazardous waste and to approve corporate environmental impact reports are more than twice as fast as before.

“We have considered cutting this time further.”

Thai Van Re, director of the city’s Department of Investment and Planning, has pledged to cooperate with the city police and tax bureau to remove unnecessary documentation and “apply only one set of documents for business registration for any individual and organization.”

The city’s Customs Department will shorten import and export procedures while its Tax Bureau will simplify the tax refund procedures for imports used to produce goods for export.

Deputy director of the city Department of Justice Ung Thi Xuan Huong said the department this year will use a one-stop policy to handle personal documents involving foreigners, issue criminal records and approve registration of law firms.

The department will do the registration via the Internet to save time, Huong said.

HCMC People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan said these administrative reforms will be of considerable benefit to businesses.

Quan said “the city officials should try as much as they can to help,” especially in approving state-funded projects, formation and dissolution of companies, as well as in issuing business licenses and land use titles.

He asked officials to publicize clearly their administrative procedures, including the cost, time taken and documents needed.

Quan also promised to implement a one-stop policy at all state offices in the city this year.

Reported by Le Nga – Minh Nam